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Tuesday, April 9, 2013

IPBR welcomes Amy Lee Burgess for today's blog tour stop. Amy is stopping by the blog today to promote her new release About Face, Book 5 of the Wolf Within series. Amy is chatting with us today about conspiracy and romance.

Don't miss the tour wide Rafflecopter giveaway at the bottom of this post for a chance to win a copy of About Face and a $15 Amazon Gift Card!

About Face was the most difficult novel of the Wolf Within series to write for several reasons. The main one is that I made what was once a simplistic sort of “conspiracy” within the Great Pack into something with deeper layers involving all the major recurring characters who are councilors or Alphas.

It’s no longer a clear, one-sided fight against people who murder Pack members who dare to get closer to Others (non-shifters) through college educations and decent jobs. It has evolved into a two-sided debate with both sides having their points. The only thing the two sides have in common is eradicating those who use murder to advance the cause. Maybe. Devious people are involved who may not be telling everything they know or representing their side the way they really view it and act within it.

I always swore I wouldn’t write about conspiracies because they get so intricate and convoluted and yet here I am.

The funny thing is I think About Face is my best effort in the series so far. It’s got drama, romance, action, heartbreak, double crossing, and best of all I’ve put good people on both sides so it is not clear which side is better – if either one is.

The conspiracy may be the main theme of this novel, but the romance angle is very prominent as well. The last two books in the series have not really focused much on Stanzie and Murphy’s romance, but this novel it’s back full force. In fact, there’s more focus on it than there ever has been. Stanzie and Murphy broke up in Inside Out, the novel before About Face, and now Stanzie has decided to try to get back together with him. Their romance has always been slow. It has developed in fits and starts and has ups and downs, mostly because they both are so stubborn and blind. They know how they feel, but they have no clue how the other feels. They just keep missing each other. I’m happy to say there is finally resolution in About Face. Of course, you’ll have to read the book to find out if they stay together or break up for good.

Before you do, if you haven’t read the entire series, here’s the series info:

Beneath the Skin – Stanzie journeys to the Great Gathering in Paris in search of a new bond mate after two years of being alone. She meets Liam Murphy and they are both embroiled in murder and adventure.

Scratch the Surface – Stanzie and Murphy confront Stanzie’s old pack, Riverglow. More death, more mystery and, bonus, a blizzard.

Hidden in Plain Sight – Stanzie and Murphy are sent to Vermont’s Maplefair pack to try to find a missing seventeen year old pack girl named Bethany. This one has a serial killer and quite a few twists and turns along the way.

Inside Out – After Murphy breaks up with Stanzie, she goes home to her birth pack, Mayflower, in Massachusetts where she’s embroiled in pack drama that changes everything in her life.

~~~oOo~~~

About Face (Book #5 of The Wolf Within Series)

Stanzie’s
job as Advisor to the Great Council is discovering other people’s
secrets. When those secrets are being kept by the ones she loves most,
can she find the courage to expose them?Under
orders from a Councilor, Stanzie journeys to Dublin and the MacTire
pack. Her mission: warn her estranged bond mate, Liam Murphy, to abandon
his overzealous search for the man responsible for the death of his
first bond mate. Not only is he endangering himself, but also disrupting
the delicate balance between opposing factions in the conspiracy
threatening to tear the Great Pack apart.Liam
needs Stanzie’s help to protect their Alpha, who has entangled himself
in the conspiracy’s deadly web. But he also desperately wants her back.
In a race against time, Stanzie and Liam discover enemies often wear the
faces of friends.CONTENT WARNING: Vulgar language, sexual situations, some violenceA Lyrical Press Paranormal Romance

ExcerptCopyright Amy Lee Burgess

Our
fingers were still linked when I opened my eyes hours later. The
bedroom smelled of sex--of us--and while he wasn't snoring, Murphy’s
breath was slow and heavy, the way I remembered from the nights we’d
spent together in America.For a moment I was filled with such aching
happiness I almost expected to levitate off the bed. But then I
remembered everything, and black despair bit into me so hard I wondered I
didn't bleed.He’d rolled off me at some
point, but we were still on top of the covers. I let go of his hand and
slid off the bed. I found his t-shirt and my panties, put them on and
fled to the living room.The remains of our
dinner had congealed on our plates on the table. The lights were still
on, and I got as far as the sofas before my legs went out from beneath
me and I couldn't breathe.Murphy appeared like a ghost in the bedroom doorway. His eyes were very dark.“Can we talk about it, Stanzie?”“What’s to talk about?” I drew one of the throw pillows defensively close to my stomach.I
loved him but he didn't love me. I’d tried so hard not to let that
overwhelm me and make peace with it. Of all the people in his life he
protected, I was the last on the list and that’s not where I wanted to
be. “You chose Paddy and Mac Tire over me, and I guess I get that, but
it hurts.”“I had no idea you loved me.”
His tone was raw and desperate. “I thought I was doing the right thing.
You didn't need to be put at risk in this, and I thought I could--”“What?
Don’t lie to me, Liam. You didn't want me involved because you’re going
to do something stupid to save Paddy and your father. Why should you
martyr yourself for them?”“Paddy came to
me for help,” Murphy shouted and the muscles in his face strained as he
struggled to regain control. “He had nowhere else to turn, don’t you
see? It’s not like I could tell him to go screw himself. He’s my best
mate.”“But it’s okay to tell me to go
screw myself, I guess. I’m your bond mate. You wouldn't come to my
tribunal. You threw me out like so much garbage when Paddy told you his
problems. And you couldn't even tell me why. You’re so hell-bent on
saving everybody, but it’s always on your terms and you have to be the
one to give help--you never want it in return. I would have helped you. I
would have done anything for Paddy--he’s my Alpha--but you decided what
was best for me in your typical high-handed Liam Murphy fashion, and to
hell with what I thought, what I wanted.“And then tonight you take advantage of the fact I love you so you can, what? Have sex?Haven’t you screwed anyone in four months, or have you just screwed people over?”His face blanched of all color, and he stared at me, his dark eyes bottomless.“That wasn't just sex. Did that feel like just sex to you?”“No, not to me. I love you. But that’s what it was to you. Will you please leave me alone? I’m tired and I want to go to sleep.”“Stanzie, I know you’re tired, but we've got to talk about this.”“In
the morning. Maybe.” I turned away from him because I couldn't stand to
look at the entreaty in his eyes. In a heartbeat I’d be across the
floor to him, and screw that.He abruptly gave in. “Look, you take the bed, I’ll sleep out here.”“No, I’ll stay out here.” I was ten seconds from tears, and I wanted him gone so he wouldn't see.“Stanzie, take the bed.”“No,”
I shouted, and the damn tears poured down my cheeks. “It smells like us
in there, don’t you get it? And us is a lie. Just let me do what I
want, goddamn it.”He opened his mouth to argue, but then, defeated, retreated and did as I asked.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Amy
Lee Burgess is a transplanted New Englander living in Houston, Texas
with two dogs and lots of DVDs. In an attempt to bond with the city
after being forced out of New Orleans post-Katrina, she turned to her
writing. Determined to finally finish that novel she'd been hacking away
at since high school, Amy managed to come up with a wolf shifter
character named Stanzie Newcastle. She and Stanzie have been BFFs ever
since.

In addition to Stanzie, Amy has also forged a relationship
with several vampires, a witch or two, and other assorted supernatural
creatures she hopes will entertain her readers. But she will always have
room for coffee and butterscotch squares with Stanzie.